Univision Contigo – Clave al Exito – “Key to Success” is media company Univision’s educational online resource designed to help Spanish-speaking parents get involved in their child’s education. The platform serves an access point for helping parents communicate with educators and learn how to help their children read and excel with their studies.

Be a Learning Hero – Another valuable source for vital information and tips for parents on how to stay up to date with all of the growing changes happening in the education system in the United States. With so many new shifts in the current paradigm, it can be tough to navigate so many developments and this website is dedicated to helping parents stay on top of every new change to become more effectively involved in schooling.

The ENLACE Initiative – A program under management by the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA), the ENLACE initiative was created with the sole purpose of helping Hispanic families find the resources they need in order for children to complete high school and pursue college. It serves students in grades K-12 as well as students enrolled in college and universities both public and private.

Lectura Books – Publishes bilingual books to meet the language needs of Spanish speaking parents and their children.

Family Phonics – A program to use with parents who need to learn basic phonics and phonemic awareness, so that they can help their children with English phonics.

Family Stories Curriculum – published by The Latino Family Literacy Project. Requires staff development for effective implementation of a Parent Involvement and family reading program.

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The avenues of communication between teachers and parents are paramount in the successful academic outcomes of a child. Without a healthy back and forth of ideas between both stakeholders, the child could potentially fall through the proverbial cracks where their learning is concerned. Teachers are tasked with educating students during the school day and when children return home it’s the parent that must continue the encouragement of that education by helping them complete their lessons. When it comes to English Language Learners, teachers are often tasked with assisting parents in being a part of the educational process in the home.

This interaction between teacher and parent can proceed in a number of ways and cultural background often plays a role in the successful achievement of that interaction. Teachers who display positive and encouraging personalities are intent on sharing their excitement of the child’s accomplishments in the classroom, in a bid to inform and inspire the parent to get deeply involved in the educational process. However, studies have shown a proclivity for minority parents not to engage in school activities and these parent-teacher relationships are less positive than with those involving Caucasian families.

There are a variety of factors at play here, lower motivations and values placed on education and some of that sentiment may extend to the parents’ own experiences with schooling when they were children. These deep-seated attitudes can form strong barriers to parental engagement in the child’s education. Good personality can certainly be a helpful component in trying to bring the parent into the fold, while providing an inviting atmosphere and multiple methods for opening up the classroom to parents are also crucial to higher success rates in children. But teachers must also be cognizant of the potential for personality clashes that could emerge with one or both parents of a student.

Certain ethnic backgrounds have strong rules and mores that concern education and no matter how much a teacher tries to break through what is perceived as a barrier on his or her end, they may only be doing more harm than good when the parents don’t see that same barrier. In some Hispanic cultures, parents view the teacher as the top authority when it comes to the education of the child. Their lack of involvement isn’t born from disinterest but out of a belief that their opinion on the subject holds less weight than that of the educator. Teachers who press the issue of trying to teach the parents to be more involved in the child’s schooling could risk their actions being misinterpreted in a negative fashion and this could lead to a clash of personality between the two parties. Unfortunately, it’s the child who suffers most in that instance and teachers must be well-versed in the potential pitfalls that exist with parents of ELL’s and adjust their own personalities accordingly when trying to teach parents how to be more involved in their child’s learning.

If you or anyone you know is interested in implementing a parent involvement program please visit The Latino Family Literacy Project. This company understands the importance for parent involvement and has developed an award-winning program for teachers to provide to parents at their schools. If you would like to find out more information they also offer online Webinar training and in person workshops.

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Student populations are becoming more diverse and schools need to begin to foster an educational environment that is culturally aware enough to include all ethnic backgrounds in the classroom. Becoming more cognizant of the many cultures and ethnic groups that make up the student body will not only encourage children to seek out and learn about people and places that are foreign to them, but create an inviting and inclusive learning experience in which every child may participate to the best of his or her ability. This includes maintaining a focus on parental engagement as well, schools can go one step further in their effort towards culturally responsive teaching by developing a method for parental involvement, particularly with children who hail from families that are underserved in the community. Studies have shown that a growing percentage of Hispanic students are part of families where the parents completed only a portion of their own education. In addition, many Hispanic parents have a difficulty with access to teachers due to cultural and language difficulties that may exist. Some of them may also be wary of initiating or continuing any contact with the school due to their legal status.

Cultural awareness isn’t only about tolerance of other cultures in the classroom it also requires a knowledge of the specific backgrounds and barriers of the families of minority students. Hispanic parents decline to keep communication with teachers and school staffs for a variety of reasons and teachers should be trained in how to properly navigate these issues. A number of these families don’t feel welcome at the school, they are uncomfortable in social interactions with teachers, or believe that the school does not hold the same values as they do for the well being of their child. There’s a perception among some families that the school treats their children differently than others because they come from low-income backgrounds or live in public housing. Proper cultural awareness requires that teachers are equipped to navigate these matters successfully in order to steer the children towards positive and meaningful academic outcomes. The value of training teachers in cultural awareness is found in the effect it can have on the student body from all walks of life.

Many schools and programs offer bilingual support from teachers who have learned the language of the majority of English Language Learners in the classroom and they make a concerted effort to engage with the parents of these children in their native tongue. It’s a way to acknowledge the sensitivity of the family while also attempting to bring them into the learning process of the student in order for that child to achieve his or her goals in class.

The Latino Family Literacy Project can help your school with being more culturally aware. This award-winning program has years of experience working with teachers and culturally diverse students and parents. If you’re interested in finding more information about this program schedule a training meeting. They offer both online webinar training and in person workshops.

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